Architecture and design blog + Heritage

The new Frankenstein-like face of Matrera fortress has upset heritage watchdogs, but restores the clout its Moorish creators originally intended. As with other famous ‘botches’, might detractors learn to love it with time?

A new Roman Polanski film is being shown, Jeff Koons and Donald Judd artworks are strewn about, and Wes Anderson’s designed the kitsch cafe ... in a scruffy industrial corner of Milan, Rem Koolhaas and Miuccia Prada have made a dazzling art space, so vast it’s practically a city. Oliver Wainwright is in awe

He was the hero of groundbreaking lightweight architecture and inspired everything from the Millennium Dome to service stations all over the world. But why didn’t Otto achieve the socially-driven dream he always hoped for?

It may not have given rise to many beloved landmarks, but this week, 14 office blocks from the postwar era got listed status. And they’re an innovative bunch, from a space-age tower of Pisa to the hanging gardens of Basingstoke

Oliver Wainwright: The 1951 Festival had it all: the jaw-dropping Skylon tower, the Dome of Discovery and an unswerving optimism about the future. Now, International Architecture Showcase are reviving that energy, dreaming up plans for east London estates

Designed by celebrated architect Kate Macintosh, 269 Leigham Court Road is a modernist gem, but Lambeth council wants to sell it off.
Oliver Wainwright meets the architect and residents to find out why it's worth saving

A new BBC series celebrates the Lords of High Tech, from Norman Foster to Richard Rogers, but ignores other architects of the same generation whose work has had as much impact. Here’s our best of the rest

Rooftop penthouses, luxury shopping, three cinemas and a hotel … the architects behind the London landmark's renaissance aren't short on ambition. But what of the building's soul, asks Oliver Wainwright